The Jewish South: An American History

A panoramic history of the Jewish American South, from European colonization to todayIn 1669, the Carolina colony issued the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which offered freedom of worship to “Jews, heathens, and other dissenters,” ushering in an era that would see Jews settle in cities and towns throughout what would become the Confederate States.The Jewish South tells their stories, and those of their descendants and coreligionists who followed, providing the first narrative history of southern Jews. Drawing on a wealth of original archival findings spanning three centuries, Shari Rabin sheds new light on the complicated decisions that southern Jews made-as individuals, families, and communities-to fit into a society built on Native land and enslaved labor and to maintain forms of Jewish difference, often through religious innovation and adaptation.She paints a richly textured and sometimes troubling portrait of the period, exploring how southern Jews have been targets of ant